Session 8 Summary

New Beginnings

After what seemed like an eternity, the heroes all decided to retire and replace themselves with new and ambitious characters. Travok became Damon Lukzer, the bard and lord of multiclassing. Chase Doomwarden called upon his brother, Gage Doomwarden. Horkin Merryweather became a beastmastery ranger. Mialee completely changed personalities into Rufus Quakecon, a druid.
And finally, The Judge, ever stoic, decided not to retire, but to continue on. With renewed vigor, the heroes continued through the Horned Hold, where they had just finished defeating the guards of the third and final building. They approached a stone door that looked disused, and opened it. The heroes entered an old chapel filled with debris from the crumbing statues and walls.
They began to search around, when a hand shot out of the rubble and grabbed The Judge's ankle! 5 wights leapt to their feet and attacked the party. The wights had a nasty claw attack that drained the lifeforce from its victim, and they all teamed up on The Judge. The Judge possesses great fortitude and was able to withstand the claw attacks, but was very badly drained by the end of the fight.
He was very angry afterwards and wanted to rest to recuperate his vitality, the but the other heroes were certain that they would be attacked and the party decided to continue on. The heroes continued through the ruined chapel into an old crypt. The crypt contained destroyed statues of minotaurs all long its walls, and one very large statue of a skeletal minotaur holding a greataxe - a minotaur Grim Reaper.
The heroes attempted to learn more about the statue, but that was really all it had for them.

Freeing the Slaves

They continued West into what appeared to be slave pits. Two more duergar guards, two spined devils, and Framarth, a duergar theurge, all attacked. There were several deep pits in the room containing slaves, so navigating proved to be difficult. Rufus transformed into a bird and flew over the pits, but was intercepted by a devil, which could also fly. Framarth, taking advantage of both the duergars' and the devils' resistance to fire, caused fire to rain all over the room, knocking Rufus out of the air into a pit.
The heroes engaged the devils and duergar guards, while Framarth continued to cast more spells that blinded, slowed, and dazed the heroes. They became quite annoyed with this and finally ran over and killed Framarth. With the battle over, the heroes freed the slaves, who were able to find their own way out once again. The heroes, with their apparent knowledge of civil engineering, realized that only one room remained in the Horned Hold and that Murkelmore Gimmerzhul must be inside.
However, the ranger that replaced Merryweather was fed up with life and departed for good - the heroes were permanently down one member. They returned to the creepy old crypt and decided to get some R&R. Whoever decided to sleep in a crypt made an interesting decision. At some point, the Judge had a weird dream, in which he was walking through the chapel where they had been attacked by wights. He saw Terrlen Darkseeker stumbling by him, barely able to walk straight.
He was extremely pale and it was clear that something was very wrong with him. The Judge stood and watched as Leatherface shambled away from him and then woke up. He decided not to tell the other heroes for unknown reasons.

Meeting Murkelmore

The heroes kicked open the huge doors to Murkelmore's chamber and he was ready for them. Murkelmore was a terrifying sight, standing almost as tall as a human and wielding a giant hammer. He opened with a short speech:

"So, you think to challenge the Gimmerzhul? It's your last mistake, fools. I think I'll sell the lot of you to mindflayers and count my gold while they feast on your brains!"

Murkelmore had two fearsome guards and also two theurges to help him out. The melee fighters all ran up to the heroes, but Gage created an illusory treasure box behind them. It fooled two of the duergar into walking over to it in some kind of a trance, where it then immobilized them. Murkelmore waded into the heroes, smashing them with his maul, sending them flying. The theurges casted spells very similar to Framarth, which really annoyed the heroes.
Murkelmore went straight for Damon and Gage while the Judge fought off the guards. Unfortunately, Murkelmore and the guards, while extremely resilient, weren't able to cause significant damage to the heroes and were dropped one by one. The battle dragged on for a while, but the heroes eventually overcame everyone except for one theurge, whom they left living so that they could very painfully end his life. The heroes all felt better after torturing the duergar and added another check mark to their "List of Less-Than-Heroic Deeds."
With Murkelmore finished, the heroes looted the area, gaining several magic items and lots of gold. They exited the Horned Hold forever and returned to the Seven-Pillared Hall for debriefing.